


Yuliatide Joy

by DisappearingMuse



Category: Tales of the Abyss
Genre: F/M, Gen, Modern AU, arts school au, cute holiday fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-31
Updated: 2020-12-31
Packaged: 2021-03-11 00:00:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,784
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28455714
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DisappearingMuse/pseuds/DisappearingMuse
Summary: Asch is a total Grinch. But when he pulls Natalia's name for a Secret Santa, his holiday turns around.
Relationships: Asch the Bloody/Natalia Kimlasca-Lanvaldear, Luke fon Fabre/Tear Grants
Comments: 3
Kudos: 6





	Yuliatide Joy

**Author's Note:**

  * For [sureimiku](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sureimiku/gifts).



> Written for the Abyss Discord Secret Santa 2020. Happy holidays, Izzy! Your suggestions for modern AU? Playing in the snow? Luke and Asch as siblings? I got you covered ;) I always pictured Asch as a metal fan, and my brain ran wild with that concept. (Also wanna mention that I aged down Natalia and Guy so they would realistically be in school at the same time as Asch and Luke.) I really hope you enjoy this, it was so much fun to write!

Asch wished he knew what he was getting into when he applied to Seventh Score High. He only wanted to pursue what his father called his “ridiculous dreams of screaming for one of those annoying metal bands,” which unintentionally landed him in the same halls as the most obnoxious brand of arts students. They became especially obnoxious during the holiday season. In the holly-decked hallway, singers burst out in renditions of Christmas songs like they were starring in a musical. Make the mistake of talking to a violinist, and they would pull out their violin and start playing background music for your conversation. Asch could barely deal with it before his second black coffee, which had not happened yet. The Nine Inch Nails screeching in his headphones couldn’t block out the noise. He eased the headphones around his shoulders and shoved past two drama students arguing over a side role. Five more months until graduation.

Behind him, he heard Luke’s voice. “Asch!”

Five more months before he could leave his annoying twin brother behind.

Luke shoved through the crowd to catch up with him. He wore a ridiculous white crop top with an ab window (hey, Asch had abs, too, but he wasn’t shameless.) People constantly compared them, and their same-face syndrome didn’t help. Last year, they both attempted to differentiate themselves. Luke cut his hair; the new haircut made him look like a baby robin, farther cementing the fact that he was born three minutes earlier. Asch began wearing all black; today he had on his classic leather jacket with chains and ripped jeans.

“What?” Asch snapped.

“You need to switch with me,” Luke said.

“Switch with…? Ugh, no. Not again.” Last time they traded places to fool a teacher into thinking Luke wasn’t skipping, the plan ended with both of them in detention.

“I don’t mean physically,” Luke said. “I mean Secret Santa.” Their homeroom did a Secret Santa every year. Like many holiday traditions, Asch found it dumb, but this year, his thoughts kept fluttering back to the name on the slip of paper on his pocket. _Natalia Luzu._ A family friend’s daughter, she grew up alongside him and Luke. She got into Seventh Score for the drama program. Asch didn’t care for plays, but she wasn’t a bad actor. In fact, the only production he ever liked was one she starred in last year- not because she looked _radiant_ in her dress, but because the play was about gangsters, which was more his speed.

Asch’s hand curled protectively over the slip. “Who’d you get?”

Luke unfolded the slip in his hands. It said _Tear Grants._

“Who’s that?” Asch asked.

“You know,” Luke said. “That girl with the weird gray hair. She hangs out with Natalia. The classical singer.”

“Ick. Classical. Slow and boring.” Asch preferred something loud, with an actual beat. “She’s not bad, though. She keeps to herself. What’s the big deal?”

“She hates me,” said Luke.

“How do you know that?” said Asch. “Besides extrapolation, because everyone hates you.”

Luke ignored the jab. “Last week or whatever, me and Guy were setting up for the production of _Hershel and the Hanukkah Butterflies_ the drama kids are doing.” Luke transferred to Seventh Score to stay with his best friend Guy, who did set design. Luke had no passion of his own yet, so he piggybacked on Guy’s interest. “I was sawing a beam, except I didn’t know she was walking past right under me, and it fell on her toe.”

“Oh my _God_ ,” said Asch.

“So, like a normal person, I say, ‘You’re supposed to tell somebody when you’re walking underneath a construction site.’”

“A normal person does not say that-”

“Then she got mad, and she says, ‘You’re supposed to be watching for people under you.’ I’m like, ‘No we’re not.’ And she’s like, ‘You’re an idiot,’ and goes to the nurse to get ice for her toe. Stop laughing, it’s not funny!”

Asch was laughing in the particular way one did when their sibling got screwed over. “You are such an idiot.”

"You’re the idiot-”

“But hey, this could be your way to make it up to her.”

“I don’t have anything to make up!” Luke said. “It’s her fault...”

A realization came to Asch, and he grinned deviously. “Okay. If you want to switch, let’s do it.” He pulled out his name.

Just as he predicted, Luke grimaced. “Oh, God. Never mind. That’s worse.”

Asch felt an annoyed prickle as he always did when Luke badmouthed Natalia, but he said, “I guess so.”

“Good luck,” Luke said. “She won’t look twice at something unless it’s expensive. Then she’ll find everything to criticize about it.”

Asch didn’t think so. Natalia always had caustic remarks loaded and ready for Luke, but around Asch, she got quiet. Quiet wasn’t usually within her voice range.

“I don’t even know what Tear likes,” Luke went on.

“Ask Natalia,” said Asch. “Hey, look, I think I see gray hair…”

Luke mumbled a curse and dissolved into the crowd, leaving Asch to walk to class alone.

* * *

Throughout the week, Asch drowned the world out with the metal in his headphones. He grudgingly helped his mother, Suzanne, put up the Christmas tree- another dumb tradition, but he partook in it because it made her happy. She embarrassed him and Luke with the misshapen wooden bird ornaments they made her in first grade. Luke made equally misshapen cookies and nearly burned down the house in the process.

On the walks home from school, Asch paid attention to the window displays of the shops he passed, looking for a gift for Natalia. They’d known each other for so long, it should be easy, but he still lacked the ability to look at an object and divine whether she would like it. He talked himself out of every book or piece of jewelry he considered. The day before the trade, he still had nothing.

He sifted through his memories of her, searching for a hint, something more personal than an afterthought from a gift shop. One memory stuck out to him. On her seventh birthday, her parents took her to an archery competition in town, and afterwards, she announced that she wanted to become a competitive archer. The next day, he found her in the neighbor’s farm with a small bow in her hands, shooting arrows into hay bales. Like many children, Asch was drawn to anything pointy and with the potential for violence, so he stayed to watch her. He ended up watching long past his usual attention span, because she wouldn’t let him leave until she finally landed an arrow in the bale’s swirly center.

He had an idea.

* * *

The morning of the Secret Santa trade, Asch woke up nervous. He and Luke found Tear and Natalia talking by the school’s gates, wrapped in winter coats, their boots seeped in last night’s snow. Natalia saw Asch and went silent. He nodded to her stiffly and chastised himself. _Could you be any more awkward?_

Tear narrowed her eyes at Luke. “I assume you’re here to apologize belatedly?”

“Of course not,” Luke said. “I was just your secret Santa.”

“Oh? What do I get now, a punch in the throat?”

“Forget that, will you? It was an _accident_.” Luke pulled a jewelry box out of his pocket. “Here. Take it.”

Asch and Natalia shared an amused glance and watched as if getting to a good bit in a soap opera. Tear opened the box. Nestled inside was the foamy stuffing was a silver pendant shaped like a music note. Her gaze traveled down the railroad of notes written on the ribbon it hung from, and her eyes widened. “This is the score from Mozart’s Opus 92 Allegretto.”

“You can tell?” said Luke.

“It’s one of my favorites.” Tear slipped the pendant on. “It’s beautiful. Thank you.”

Luke blushed . “It was nothing.”

“No, it’s not nothing. This is really thoughtful. Especially after…” She looked away. “I suppose I should have said something. I walk very quietly. I’m told I sneak up on people.”

Luke fired back with his own not-quite-apology. “I should’ve looked, I guess.”

Natalia stifled a laugh and turned to Asch. “Are you here for moral support?”

“What?” Asch said. “No. I was _your_ Secret Santa.”

“Oh!” Natalia clasped her hands. He swore, in a past life, she could’ve been royalty.

Asch pulled the envelope from his backpack, hoping she didn’t expect a card- he couldn’t write worth anything. She opened it, sliding out two tickets to an archery finals competition. “Oh, Asch…”

“They aren’t front row seats or anything special,” he said. “I just thought you could bring family, or a friend, maybe Tear would be interested.”

“Will you come with me? I mean, you don’t have to- I just thought since you liked to watch archery too- but if you’re busy- or you don’t want to-”

“No, that would be- that would be awesome,” Asch said.

“Great! I could swing by your place to pick you up.” She stroked the tickets’ stubbled edges. “Thank you, Asch. This means a lot to me.” Before he could react, she leaned forward and kissed his cheek. Her hair tickled his ear, her cheek warm. His face heated, like she’d transferred the warmth to him. When she pulled back, she looked as surprised as he did.

Tear and Luke were staring at them.

Asch got redder. “What are you looking at, dreck?”

“What does that mean?” Tear whispered to Luke.

“I don’t know,” Luke whispered back. “He found it in the thesaurus one day when he was doing an English paper and started saying it-” Asch kicked a snowdrift at him. “Hey!” Luke dug in the snow and chucked a handful back at him.

Seeing it coming, Asch dodged- and it hit Natalia, bursting into a firework of twigs and mud on her chest. Asch began to stumble out an apology, but she broke into a grin and bent down to gather a snowball. Tear stood back, watching in amusement, until Natalia shouted for her to join in. Shyly, she warmed a small snowball in between her hands and threw it at Luke, hitting him in the face. “Now we’re even,” she said.

They chased each other around the front lawn, laughing and stumbling in the slush. The bell for first period rang, sending them scrambling for their forgotten backpacks. Asch shook the snow out of his jacket, his shoulder sore from where Luke had pegged him. He couldn’t remember the last time his face hurt from smiling and not frowning, where his lungs hurt from laughing instead of screaming.

He thought he might actually enjoy this Christmas.


End file.
